THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150485
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 35 lines
The Supreme Court made some small businesses easier targets for employment-bias lawsuits Tuesday by telling the nation's judges how to interpret a key anti-discrimination law.
The court, voting unanimously, revived a woman's sex-bias lawsuit against a Chicago-based firm by ruling the company qualified as one with 15 or more employees.
At issue was how Congress intended to count to 15 when it applied Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to any employer ``who has 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.''
In other matters, the court:
Ruled in a New Jersey case that the government sometimes must prove ``gross negligence'' - and not just ordinary negligence - to win its lawsuits against officers of failed federally chartered banks.
Heard arguments over the constitutionality of a Georgia law that requires political candidates to prove they are drug-free.
In the job-bias case, the justices had been asked to resolve a split among lower courts.
Some had ruled that Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees on the payroll every working day for the required number of weeks. But other courts had said the law covers only businesses with 15 or more employees actually on the job every working day for the required number of weeks.
In an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the nation's highest court said the ``payroll method'' is the proper test.
KEYWORDS: SUPREME COURT RULINGS DISCRIMINATION